Rick Boucher, Author at Internet Innovation Alliance

Recent Contributions from Rick Boucher

Congress should make sure telemedicine is here to stay

The COVID-19 pandemic and accompanying relaxation of regulatory barriers has occasioned an explosion in telemedicine use, vaulting it to the center of health care delivery.

July 16, 2020

All of America’s Kids Should Have Access to the Virtual Classroom

Op-eds

The “homework gap” affects about 12 million children of school age across the country who lack broadband connectivity in their homes. The culprit is a combination of a lack of access to a broadband connection (especially for those in rural areas) and a lack of adoption (primarily among low-income families in more urban and suburban areas).

July 8, 2020

Congress can narrow the healthcare gap by closing the digital divide

Op-eds

As promising as telemedicine is for rural medicine, obtaining a high-speed internet connection for telehealth is an impossibility for tens of millions of rural residents who are on the wrong side of a seemingly intractable digital divide.

June 18, 2020

Let’s Learn From Europe’s Broadband Mistake

Op-eds

IIA Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher, founder of the House Internet Caucus, says the US’s better internet performance during the coronavirus pandemic is attributable to sustained private investment that has been encouraged by a light-touch regulatory regime for broadband.

May 15, 2020

Telemedicine Rules Should Be Permanently Eased

Op-eds

Medicare and state telemedicine restrictions have been eased during the coronavirus pandemic, and these changes need to be made permanent, writes IIA Honorary Chairman Rick Boucher. Doctors can see more patients and get fairly paid for it, and patients can use smart phones and personal computers to get needed medical advice.

May 13, 2020

Congress Punished Rural TV Viewers, and We Will Pay the Price During the Pandemic

Op-eds

For us newly minted shut-ins, TV has become even more of a lifeline as we seek out news on the virus … and a respite from it. For thousands of rural Americans, that lifeline may soon be cut off, leaving their households blind, right at the time we need to see what is going on.

May 1, 2020

It’s Been Five Years Since the FCC Took a Wrong Turn Toward Title II

Op-eds

Five years ago, the Federal Communications Commission went off a time-honored course – the course that had been set in the early days of the commercial internet by the Clinton Administration and followed during the administration of George W. Bush.

February 26, 2020

Congress Is Finally Listening to Consumers on Internet Privacy

Op-eds

The House Energy & Commerce Committee released a bipartisan draft of a comprehensive consumer internet privacy bill just before 2019 year-end. With countless online privacy abuses, data misuses, and security breaches in recent years, these legislative developments are highly welcome progress.

January 15, 2020

Congress Must Act Now to Stop TV Blackouts for Nearly 900,000 Americans

Op-eds

STELAR allows viewers nationwide to receive network programming from a local station when possible or from satellite delivery when necessary. If STELAR is not renewed, there are at least 870,000 mostly rural people who will lose access to at least some network programming.

November 27, 2019

Nationwide Internet Privacy Protections are Within Reach

Op-eds

In Congress, as with the American public, a broad consensus exists that the time is ripe for the enactment of federal consumer data privacy protections. All eyes have now turned to Sens. Cantwell and Wicker with the expectation that they will soon come forward with a bipartisan bill that can attract broad support in both the House and the Senate.

November 22, 2019

Congress Must Act to Stop Balkanization of the Internet

Op-eds

Congress should heed the broad national consensus in support of strong federal privacy protections and pass a bipartisan measure that assures consumers a constant level of protection, regardless of where they happen to be or how they access the internet.

October 30, 2019

STELAR Act Reauthorization Should Top Congress’ Year-End List

Op-eds

As many as 870,000 people — most living in rural areas — would lose access to at least some broadcast network signals if Congress does not renew the STELAR Act.

October 22, 2019

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